NIM

Opening of NIM Changping Campus on Aug 27th, 2009 Opening address by the President of the CIPM, Prof. E. O. Göbel

Dear Minister/Vice Minister Li Changjiang (?), Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the Peoples Republic of China

Dear Mr. Zhang, Director of the National Metrology Institut (NIM),

Dear colleagues from NIM,

Dear metrology colleagues and friends from all over the globe,

Dear guests,

This is a great day for all of us!

Of course, first of all it is a great day for you, Director Zhang, and your staff. With the establishment and opening of your Second Experimental Base here in this wonderful location at Beijing’s Ming Tombs nature reserve, you are entering into a new phase of your important metrology task to establish a measurement infrastructure according to the needs of your economy and society.

After more than 50 years since NIM has been established and over the years has made remarkable contributions to national and international metrology you are now with your modern and sophisticated laboratories in an excellent position to become one of the leading NMIs world wide.

Second, it is a great day for AQSIQ and the Peoples Republic of China. Dear Mr. (Minister/Vice Minister), AQSIQ and the government of your great country have rightly decided to invest into metrology, since metrology provides the base for economic progress, human welfare and sustainable protection of our environment. China in its transition from a developing country to one of the mayor industrial nations will need a first class metrology infrastructure and with this second experimental base and the NIM facilities in Beijing the prerequisits are excellent and the highly qualified and motivated staff of NIM will bring this to a success,I am sure.

But, please, keep in mind that metrology needs continuous support, since the demands on metrology will continue to increase. Third, it is a great day for world metrology and hence for me as president of the CIPM, the Comité International des Poids et Mesures, and my CIPM and BIPM colleagues. With the authorization of the former State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, NIM has signed the CIPM-MRA in 1999 and since then actively participated in international and regional key and supplementary comparisons.

With the new modern laboratories NIM will improve its metrological services as well as offer new ones and by this contributing to raise the quality of world metrology as well.

I am sure there are many more for whom this is a great day and amongst those it is me again, now not as the CIPM president, but as the president of PTB, Germanys national metrology institute. We have had the privilege and pleasure to closely cooperate with NIM for by now 30 years - yesterday we have signed the extension of the cooperation agreement between the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and AQSIQ of the Peoples Republic of China. Within this 30 years NIM has developed to a partner on equal footing and we are looking forward to continue our successful cooperation. So, to come to an end, on behalf of the CIPM I would like to congratulate NIM for its new and excellent facilities and I am wishing you all the success for your future scientific work and metrological services.